Why are builders such Neanderthals?

Tom Dunne

In what industry does a supplies charge you 15,000 Euro for not doing work? In what industry does a supplier point blank refuse to not put in something you have paid for?

In the Irish construction industry, that's where. My brother was buying a house, had a downstairs toilet which protruded into the kitchen, so he asked the builder to not put in the small bathroom for the toilet. 15,000 the builder said. Luckily my father is in the building business, so he was able to argue with the gorilla and conviced the builder the house would not fall down if he didn't put in the toilet. But the damn cheek to look for 15 grand to not do something.

My brother-in-law is buying an apartment and wanted a shower instead of a bath. Knowing his builder was another gorilla, he asked him not to put in the bath (and would sort out the shower himself). The builder quite simply said no. There was no negotiation, no budging, nothing. Plain and simple, no. That bath was going in come hell or high water.

It's incredible what these clowns can get away with.

Victor

Can I have a PC with a coffee maker please Mr. Dell?

seamus

€15,000 he was chancing his arm. No doubt making up something about consulting an architect and having to order especially for that house or something.

Perhaps the other guy insisted on putting in the bath, so your brother-in-law couldn't come back to him and give out about having no bath when he hammed up his DIY job?

babaduck

Oh god - we're not all monsters!!! That €15k quote sounds a bit mad... unless the room was already constructed and there was a lot of work involved in taking out the walls.

Also, builders are more concerned in getting developments finished on time & to spec so IMHO, I wouldn't leave the bath out either - especially if it was in the main bathroom. It has an impact on resale also.

To be honest, the more leeway you give a client, the more ****e you get. Our builder was non-negotiable all the way - most companies are "take it or leave it" and that works perfectly. If you want a tailormade house, go & buy a site. Nobody's forcing you to buy from a particular builder - the choice is yours. I've found that clients ring me whinging about suppliers when I've given them an allowance to do their own thing. Get the hint - you made the arrangement privately - I don't give a toss if they put your kitchen in backwards... if you had taken what we supplied as standard, then I'd walk over broken glass to make sure it was perfect, but you didn't.... so SOD OFF!!!

Tom Dunne

babaduck wrote:

Oh god - we're not all monsters!!! That €15k quote sounds a bit mad... unless the room was already constructed and there was a lot of work involved in taking out the walls.

Nope - walls hadn't even been put up, as it turns out, the small bathroom/toilet was just wooden framed with plasterboard, the builder tried to claim it was a supporting wall. A complete chancer.

babaduck wrote:

To be honest, the more leeway you give a client, the more ****e you get.

I can accept that people can be quite unreasonable, especially when it comes to their future home. But asking a builder not to put in a bath that is already paid for? Come, on, only in Ireland would you get away with this.

babaduck wrote:

Nobody's forcing you to buy from a particular builder - the choice is yours.

And that is just typical of the attitude maintained by builders. They know there is a ready market, they know they will have no problem selling, they know if one purchaser pulls out, there will be three more to take his place. Of course he doesn't have a choice - the deposit has been paid and the contracts have been signed.

My brother-in-law is hardly going to jeopardise his substantial deposit over a bath, is he?

Victor

tom dunne wrote:

Nope - walls hadn't even been put up, as it turns out, the small bathroom/toilet was just wooden framed with plasterboard, the builder tried to claim it was a supporting wall. A complete chancer.

Quite possibly and while both our answers were a little cynical, so is yours.

There is excess demand in construction and everyone wants their house to be special, but not have to pay for it. Just a question, but how did your brother expect to comply with Part M (Disabled Access) of the Building Regulations? Much as builders and clients would like, this isn't an option when it comes to compliance. What would he do with an incontinent 3 year old / 83 year old?

0utshined

tom dunne wrote:

My brother-in-law is buying an apartment and wanted a shower instead of a bath. Knowing his builder was another gorilla, he asked him not to put in the bath (and would sort out the shower himself). The builder quite simply said no. There was no negotiation, no budging, nothing. Plain and simple, no. That bath was going in come hell or high water.

I can see the builders point on this one. If the sale had fallen through for one reason or another then he would have been left with an apartment with no bath\shower and would have had to go to the hassle and expense of getting one installed. It probably wouldn't happen but I'd imagine that would be the way he'd see it.

babaduck

Just to give you another example of how daft some clients are. I just got off a call from a woman who bought a house from us 3.5 years ago. She's got a normal shrinkage crack in one of the rooms & demanded that I send a man down immediately to fix it. Jaysus, it's a 12 month warranty for any defects & shrinkage cracks aren't actually a defect.

Then she got thick because I wouldn't send a guy 60 miles e/w to fix it. :mad:

D

I hate when people complain about shrinkage cracks. Our client got a subcontractor to put in the kitchen units. He had it measured and all. We told the lady to keep the heating on full wack for two weeks before that to allow the house and any floor boards/units to dry out, we were also putting down solid oak floors. She didn't bother with the heat even though we warned her several times about shrinkage. Then when the kitchen units were in for a few weeks a gap appeared at the top where the units met the ceiling. She demanded that they were to be replaced. We reminded her that we had nothing to do it the units and that she hadn't kept the heating on. She suggested that we raise the floor...

Borderfox

I understand about the Builder/Custormer relationship but the thing that galls me is having to pay stamp duty to the government, i mean at least a builder builds something even if it can be crooked or straight at least you have something to look at......... :mad: